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Synaptic Transmission

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Comprehensive Human Physiology

Abstract

Synapses. The term “synapse,” based on the Greek word to clasp, was introduced by Sir Charles Sherrington as early as in 1897 [11]. Despite this early definition of specialized contacts between nerve cells by a physiologist, there was a long-lasting debate among morphologists as to the existence of such contacts. The reticular theory, as proposed for instance by Camillo Golgi [11], described the nervous system as a continuous network of nerve fibers, a “syncytium,” rather than a discontinuous arrangement of cells that establish contacts with each other via their long processes. It was the Spanish neuroanatomist Ramón y Cajal [37] who, by using Golgi’s silver impregnation method, provided strong morphological evidence for contiguity rather than continuity.

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Authors
  1. M. Frotscher
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Physiologisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Str. 7, 79104, Freiburg, Germany

    Rainer Greger

  2. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive N.W., T2N 4N1, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Uwe Windhorst

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Frotscher, M. (1996). Synaptic Transmission. In: Greger, R., Windhorst, U. (eds) Comprehensive Human Physiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60946-6_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60946-6_17

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64619-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-60946-6

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